Motor Sport: Lewis Hamilton has praised the Spanish fans ahead of their home grand prix in Barcelona this weekend.
Hamilton's comments also come prior to tomorrow's launch of the FIA's pro-active 'Racing Against Racism' initiative. Motorsport's world governing body immediately acted after abuse was directed at Hamilton during a test session at the Circuit de Catalunya two months ago.
It remains to be seen whether further trouble will happen over the course of the next few days given the feud that unfolded between Hamilton and home hero Fernando Alonso last season.
For his part, though, Hamilton is happy to be racing at a venue he adores as he said: "The Circuit de Catalunya is a great track. We can't ever lose it from the calendar. It always sees competitive racing, and there are so many enthusiastic fans there all the time which makes for a great atmosphere."
Of greater concern for Hamilton will be ensuring he revives his title bid after a wretched weekend in Bahrain earlier this month.
After wrecking his McLaren during Friday practice, Hamilton then endured a miserable race day as he first momentarily stalled on the grid before later ploughing into the back of Alonso's Renault.
Hamilton concedes he has "learned quite a lot" from what
unfolded in Bahrain, adding: "I realised that when things go wrong
at the beginning of the race I need to use damage limitation. I
fell back to 10th and then tried to regain my positions early on,
and that
was a big mistake.
"I will also make sure what happened at the beginning of the race never happens again."
Going into the fourth race of the season — and the first in Europe — Hamilton trails world champion Kimi Raikkonen by five points.